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'It is really interesting and really bizarre, very different from anything we've seen in vertebrates,’ Diane Kelly, an anatomist at the
University of Massachusetts and author of the study, told Live Science.

Ms Kelly said early 20th
century scientists had described the alligator’s penis but had concluded
‘I have no idea how this thing works’.

Before: The reproductive tract of an alligator showing the muscles controlling the ejection in a relaxed state

After: The scientists tug at the muscle tendons to showcase the dissected alligator's penis which is in the same state inside and outside of the body

Ms Kelly studied several American alligators and upon dissection found a 2.75in white phallus hidden inside the reptiles reproductive and waste orifice.

Ms Kelly filled the phallus with saline fluid and discovered that, unlike a majority of mammals, turtles and birds, the penis did not change in shape and size.

Upon dissection she found the penis full of collagen leaving it too stiff to inflate pre-reproduction.

‘The large amount of collagen in the wall and central space of the alligator penis stiffen the structure so it can be simply everted for copulation and rapidly retracted at its completion,’ Dr Kelly explains.

The phallus is ejected with a specific set of muscles and retracted when the animal relaxes the muscles with the help of ‘rubber band’ tendons at its base.